Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) Price Target Cut to $252.00 by Analysts at Stifel Nicolaus

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) had its price objective cut by investment analysts at Stifel Nicolaus from $265.00 to $252.00 in a report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a “hold” rating on the industrial products company’s stock. Stifel Nicolaus’ price objective would suggest a potential upside of 3.92% from the company’s previous close.

LECO has been the subject of a number of other research reports. Roth Capital set a $285.00 target price on shares of Lincoln Electric and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, October 31st. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 8th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of Lincoln Electric from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, November 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of Lincoln Electric in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on Lincoln Electric from $235.00 to $260.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research report on Monday, October 20th. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Lincoln Electric presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $244.83.

Lincoln Electric Stock Performance

Lincoln Electric stock traded down $1.76 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $242.49. The stock had a trading volume of 116,829 shares, compared to its average volume of 342,292. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $235.57 and its two-hundred day moving average is $229.64. Lincoln Electric has a 1 year low of $161.11 and a 1 year high of $252.00. The stock has a market cap of $13.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.67 and a beta of 1.25. The company has a quick ratio of 1.07, a current ratio of 1.71 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.81.

Lincoln Electric (NASDAQ:LECO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The industrial products company reported $2.47 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $2.39 by $0.08. Lincoln Electric had a return on equity of 40.33% and a net margin of 12.56%.The firm had revenue of $1.06 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.05 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $2.14 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.8% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Lincoln Electric will post 9.36 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Lincoln Electric

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of LECO. Panagora Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 3.9% in the 2nd quarter. Panagora Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,156 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $240,000 after buying an additional 43 shares during the last quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Lincoln Electric by 2.8% during the 3rd quarter. Kera Capital Partners Inc. now owns 1,692 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $399,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares during the last quarter. Profund Advisors LLC grew its position in Lincoln Electric by 3.8% in the third quarter. Profund Advisors LLC now owns 1,264 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $298,000 after acquiring an additional 46 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 2.8% in the second quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 1,752 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $363,000 after acquiring an additional 47 shares during the last quarter. Finally, YANKCOM Partnership increased its stake in Lincoln Electric by 8.7% in the second quarter. YANKCOM Partnership now owns 601 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $125,000 after acquiring an additional 48 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 79.61% of the company’s stock.

Lincoln Electric Company Profile

Lincoln Electric Holdings, Inc, through its subsidiaries, designs, develops, manufactures, and sells welding, cutting, and brazing products worldwide. The company operates through three segments: Americas Welding, International Welding, and The Harris Products Group. It offers brazing and soldering filler metals, arc welding equipment, plasma and oxyfuel cutting systems, wire feeding systems, fume control equipment, welding accessories, and specialty gas regulators, and education solutions, as well as a portfolio of automated solutions for joining, cutting, material handling, module assembly, and end of line testing, as well as involved in brazing and soldering alloys, and in the retail business in the United States.